What is it about the Legion of Super-Heroes that pulls in ex-Marvel
editor-in-chiefs. Roy Thomas wrote it. Gerry Conway wrote it. Jim
Shooter came back for another run. Now Tom DeFalco is taking over
Legion Lost with issue #7. Writing changes announced on Superman, Green
Arrow and Legion Lost before the 4th issues hit the stands? You can’t
say DC is averse to change.

His schedule just couldn’t keep up with a monthly series right now.
It’s a bummer because Fabian and I had discussed some really cool ideas
for the series, but I understood his reasons, and we parted on a
positive note with hopes that someday we can reteam on something else
down the road.

So I needed to hire a new writer, someone I felt could take the
groundwork laid by Fabian and strive for even greater heights. No small
task!

... So Tom came into my office with his infectious enthusiasm, and we
just talked about LEGION LOST for over an hour. I really loved what I
heard. And then we got on the phone with series artist Pete Woods, and
the ideas kept flowing. Carrying over subplots that Fabian had been
developing, Tom’s inclinations felt so completely fresh that we were
sold instantly. Here’s a taste:

A crossover with TEEN TITANS involving the organization known as
N.O.W.H.E.R.E. — with a revelation that will change the entire course of
LEGION LOST!

A Timber Wolf romance that could rip the team apart!

A power struggle for leadership!

Tyroc has a deadly secret…and the team isn’t happy when they learn it!

And a traitor lurks in their midst!

I haven't kept up with Marvel in a while; I thought DeFalco was still in charge over there.

10 comments:

Crossovers! Romances! Traitors! Why, I don't think I've ever heard of such original twists in a comic book! Next thing you know they'll have something really wacky and "out there", like Rob Liefeld drawing men with big muscles and poorly-defined feet, or Ron Marz treating female characters like horror porn stereotypes! Why, the sky's the limit with the new DC!

Well, after I ended up taking away all Nicieza's enthusiasm (see the mortal combat on the DC "Lost" board), he decides he's had enough.

Now, if I work on DeFalco, he'll run away screaming after an arc, the remnants of the group will return to the 31st Century unmutilated, they'll be in an actual Legion where they belong (as they aren't now), and this creative abortion will be properly euthanized.

I cannot recall anything DeFalco has written that I like. I found his runs on Thor and Fantastic Four to be unreadable, and his work on Spider-Man was the genesis for the spider-clone saga, which stands out as one of the worst ideas ever in comic history.

I love the Legion and DC Comics, but I swear, the people running the creative end of DC right now really don't like us. If they did, they wouldn't be shoveling us the Marvel Comics of the 1990s like this.

Getting Legion back in the 21st Century as a teen book is a flawed concept from the get go, especially since these characters have not been teens for ages. It would be a better choice to have a Legion Academy book as a teen concept and let LSH be back as the top sci-fi book at DC.

* The changed course will be to realize that there's nothing they can do to prevent or restrain the virus, they will let NOWHERE deal with it and start to search for Gates

* Timber Wolf's romance comes after the crossover, and it's with Rose Walker (the once and future Ravager) from the Superboy series; he is considering staying in the 21st century and wearing circus tent pants

* Tyroc's secret: he has been spending all the team funds on elf boots

* The traitor: Tellus, who is secretly been a proponent of the Dark Circle (hey, there's precedent for this one!)

More seriously, here's a thread I'd like to see: Marzal periodically comes out of limbo and back to Earth, right. How about now? It's one of the few logical Tyroc-centric plots, and it's never been done.

No, that was "Marzal goes away, Tyroc leaves with it". Marzal came back before the Earth went boom in LSH v4 #39, which is when Troy ended up as President of Earth. But other than it being back, there wasn't much else to it.

What I'm saying, though, is regardless of its state in the 31st century, it was in and out of Limbo throughout the centuries before then, and now that Tyroc is back and active with the Legion *and* stranded in the 21st century, this is *the* opportunity to bring it out of Limbo.

Of course, you'd really want to think through the implications of an island of angry slave descendants suddenly being added to Earth's political climate. Kind of like the New Krypton stuff of a couple years ago, there are DCU-wide implications of that, not just Legion ones.

It also gives the chance for a "everything you knew about Tyroc is wrong" revision, if desired.

Sigh. Yet another person who has read the urban legends surrounding Tyroc.

Tryoc's initial appearance had him as an angry black man.

The story which revealed that the island goes into another dimension did not show anyone on the island, including Tyroc, as angry. It did have the islanders being descended from slaves, but this was the *only* reference to race in the entire story. And this story was an obvious attempt to fix the earlier story.

I doubt Marzal would affect the world much at all when it appears. But it would be interesting seeing them stockpile goods and technical talent for the next 170 year dry period.

And it should be appearing now in the present, since the Legion is 1000 years in the future, it appears every 200 years, 1000 is a multiple of 200, and unlike in the future there's no reason for it to vanish prematurely.

Realize, though, that an appearance by Marzal in the 21st century now would possibly be the *first* return from Limbo for them (although I think things showed in the comics with 1900 dress styles in flashback, implying a prior return, but that's easy to wipe away). Assuming no info about the state of Earth before then, you potentially have make culture shock for the Marzalians, assuming that slavery is still in effect and so on.

By the 30th century, they would have returned several times and would have been in a much different social space than on their first return.

More than that race issue, though, I'm interested in how it disrupts 21st century politics to have such an island nation and altered culture suddenly deposit onto Earth. (And if there are supers there, how it disrupts super politics.) They are likely very self-sufficient and isolationist, and you could have fun with them being a totally steampunk society, for example, never having the need or ability to deal with oil or nuclear.

There's some good science fantasy to be investigated in such a Brigadoon Syndrome. The slavery background adds additional seasoning.